10 Things Only Preachers Can Understand about Preaching

Churches usually have only a few preachers (if they have more than one) and many more members of the congregation. I write this post to help members understand preachers a little more—and, I trust, pray more for us.

Once the “preaching bug” bites, it’s tough to ever get away from it. There’s no way to explain it unless you’ve felt it. It’s an overwhelming, undeniable sense of calling.

We’re usually our own worst critics. Sure, most of us have critics – but few of us have critics as tough on us as we are on ourselves.

A perceived “good day” in the pulpit is exhilarating. It’s tiring, but it’s a weird kind of tired. It’s the kind of tired that says, “I can’t wait to do it again.”

A perceived “bad day” in the pulpit is exhausting. It’s an emotional, physical, and spiritual drain that sometimes makes us think, “I don’t know if I should ever do that again.”

It’s easy to get lazy in sermon preparation. The resources are many, and the preparation time is sometimes short—so we learn shortcuts to a sermon. Many of us have to fight this temptation.

We both want and don’t want evaluations of our sermons. We want to improve, but we’d usually like to improve without others pointing out our weaknesses. We’re human.

We can’t avoid gauging the crowd as we preach. Nobody I know wants to preach just for the crowd, but we catch it when the congregation doesn’t seem to be with us. We don’t usually miss the signs.

We know when we’re underprepared. Whether it’s our personal spiritual walk or our practical study for a sermon, we know when we’re not ready to bring the Word of God. It happens.

We love it when a child “gets it” through our preaching. When the littlest guys and girls understand the Word from us, adults will “get it,” too.

We grieve and quake a bit when we hear of other preachers who fall. We know our role as proclaimer puts us in the enemy’s sights. We also know that except for the grace of God, we would all be shot down.

When our flock struggles, we struggle. Whether it’s divorce, death of a family member, or any number of spiritual or life problems, when the people in our care struggle, we do to. Sometimes we wonder what we could do better, or if we could have been there more than we were, or some other kind of self-doubt and second guessing, but no matter what, we grieve when they grieve.

1)I would add that we want the hearer to care as much about their spiritual condition as the preacher/pastor does. 2) Passion is not anger. Just because I may get “loud” from time to time doesn’t mean I’m angry.

1. If you use a lectionary, usually the harder passages, ones you want to avoid (for whatever reasons) yield the best results. 2. Sometimes people will come through and say “I’m so glad you said x, y, z”–and you were saying just the opposite. 3. Sometimes the ones you think you nail, people are ‘ho-hum,’ it seems, while others that feel messy or that you’re floundering–“that was one of your best sermons ever!” 4. Person says, “Today I really got a lot out of your sermon,” and that makes you both happy but also, “well, what’s been missing in my other ones then?” Big conclusion: as a preacher you have a lot of control over what you say, how you say it…but praise God it’s not complete control, that the Spirit gets in there to meet people where they need it.

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@clawlessjr

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As Dr. Lawless does his daily Bible reading in 2017, he sends these devotional comments to accountability partners. This year, he is focusing on spiritual warfare in the Bible. If you would like to receive these short, daily devotionals, enter your email below to subscribe.